A summer in Olhão that didn't take

Community is what you make of it. Which is a problem if you don’t make much.

Earlier in the year the eastern Algarve had turned me into a slightly less grumpy person. So I came back for the summer, to Pomar Coliving’s original space on the outskirts of Olhão — reopened as a beta test after the city council decided the property needed a big road straight through it.

The plan was to carry on where I’d left off: community, workouts, a bit of work. Then move on to Palermo. I didn’t. I stayed longer instead. The escape plan escaped me again.

This time I didn’t click with the community. No villain, just chemistry. The smaller the group, the bigger the gamble. Add a supermarket that was a proper expedition away, summer heat, and nobody with a car, and the daily negotiation with myself usually ended in my favour — staying put. The running routes start with ten or fifteen boring minutes on the road, so I went back to mostly lifting in the home gym. Progress, in reverse.

The good bits: dinners in Olhão and Fuseta, a pizza beach party in Faro, and the crowd at Nanobrew in Fuseta, which turned out to be the community I’d already found.

And I think the place is undervalued. Outside the centre, it’s a perfect base for cyclists, hikers and bikers. I’d come back. With wheels, so the next supermarket isn’t a life event.